Every summer, millions of children in the UK swap books for screens. Jayce had a different idea.
In the summer of 2023, he launched the first Jayce’s World Summer Fun Activity Programme — a six-week creative writing and reading initiative designed to keep children writing, reading, and imagining during the school holidays. Sixteen children took part. Every single one of them left with a story they had written themselves.
Why Jayce started the programme
Jayce knows what it feels like to reach for a book when everyone else is reaching for a phone or a tablet. He has read over 2,000 books — many of them during holidays, weekends, and moments when screens were more popular choices. He wanted to create a space where other children could discover the same thing he discovered: that writing your own story is more exciting than anything a screen can offer.
The 2023 programme ran online, which meant children from across the region could join from home. Each week had a different focus — character creation, story structure, setting descriptions, dialogue, editing, and the grand finale: reading your finished story aloud.
What the children made
Sixteen children. Six weeks. Sixteen original stories — written, revised, and shared. Children who arrived saying “I don’t know what to write” left with pages covered in their own words. One wrote a story about a dragon who was afraid of fire. Another wrote about a grandmother who kept a secret garden. One very small writer, aged 4, dictated a story about a cloud that wanted to be a puddle.
Every story mattered. Every one of them was brilliant.
What comes next
The Summer Fun Activity Programme returned in 2024, this time at four Sutton Coldfield libraries in person. It is continuing to grow. If you would like to register your child’s interest for 2026, visit the Summer Programme page and leave your details — places fill quickly.
Because summer should always include at least one story.
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